Old Pond Publishing

July 2008

07/28/2008

Henry Brewis remains Britain's funniest farming writer and cartoonist. Personally I think you have to go back as far as the 19th century, to RS Surtees (Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour), to find an author who created so much humour while being an insider in rural England.

Old Pond has drawn on eight books by Brewis to collate his writings and drawings about sheep and shepherds. On the right-hand page a cartoon; on the left a written snippet or verse. The pairings reflect each other as they go through the principal farming events: buying sheep - keeping them in the paddock - dipping, worming and tupping - shearing - lambing - sheep health (lack of) - mortality and the market.

Jack Byard is following up his extremely popular Know Your Sheep booklet with a companion on cattle breeds.

Know Your Cattle is a 96-page paperback by Jack Byard. ISBN 978-1-905523-92-4. NOW IN STOCK. £4.99.

The book covers the 44 breeds you are most likey to find on British farms or in farm parks. Some, like the Holstein, are well known; others, such as the Wagyu, more exotic. For each breed Jack gives a full-page photograph, usually supplied by the breed society.

Facing the photograph is a description of the origin, development and current status of the breed in Britain. Rare Breed Survival Trust categories are included to show whether the breed is endangered or not.

07/03/2008

'Luzenac talc for the world' is the catch-phrase of Rio Tinto Minerals' Pyreneean talc mine north of Ax-les-Thermes in the Ariege region of south-west France. We have been filming there courtesy of Alexander Kristen, the mine's general manager and Laura Jones, Rio Tinto's European communications manager. See blog 4 May 2009 for DVD (Massive Earthmoving Machines Pt 4) details.

The softest of all minerals, talc is 'a perfectly stable and chemically inert hydrous magnesium silicate' that has a laminar structure. The weak binding of the laminae (sheets) allow them to slide over each other, making the rock so soft.

The mine is in a staggeringly beautiful landscape, at about 1700 metres, with vultures wheeling on the thermals and, at this time of year, carpets of flowers.

Nothing prepares you for the whiteness of the mine (right). The deposit lies in a deep, wide cleft slanting diagonally down between other rocks.

The deposit has been mined here since the early 19th century. Until recently the company had the policy of repainting in white all its vehicles, like this Cat 777C (left).

The Liebherr 994 Litronic (right) makes short work of shifting waste material.

At the end of our first day (left), high above the mine, the warning is sounded for a blasting.

Down on the wet talc concrete slabs are used to make movable roadways. The transporter (right) is a Liebherr 942.

The talc is carefully taken by small machines like this Liebherr 900 (left) and separated into different shades and qualities.

Articulated dump trucks like this Volvo (right) are used to move talc to the stockpiles above the crusher ...

... where a Cat 98G (left) selects from eleven grades.

Inside the loading shed (right) the buckets are filled for transport down from the deposit at Trimouns to the processing and depatch factory at Luzenac.

The filled buckets start their run on the cable (left).

As the filled buckets descend (right) they contribute power to raise the empty buckets back up.

The main uses of talc: in the manufacture of polypropylene, especially for car bodies; paint manufacture; paper coatings; cosmetics and pharmaceuticals; ceramics; agriculture and food. If you'd like more information before our DVD (scripted by Steven Vale) is available, Talc de Luzenac has a highly illustrated book available in French, German or English. The English version is called 'The Epic of Luzenac Talc'. Check www.luzenac.com/talcdeluzenac

As part of Old Pond's programme of recording earthmovers at work we've just spent some time filming in northern Spain, courtesy of the Union Minera del Norte SA. Our guides were Roberto Brana and Maria del Pilar. See blog 4 May 2009 for the DVD (Massive Earthmoving Machines Pt 4) details.

The three mines we visited were at Fabero, Tormeleo and Cerredo in north-west Leon and the Asturias. On the left is Fabero.

The company uses Hitachi EX5500s (right) for heavy work on the overburden at Fabero. We believe these are the only 5500s in Europe.

The coal seams are surprisingly shallow. The ones we saw were maybe 40 cm deep. We were told that they can be as little as 20 cm and still be economic to work. Here (left) a 350 with a specially adapted bucket is gathering on a seam.

The contrast in size between the two Hitachis shows clearly when they are working together (right).

Among the dump trucks were these converted 1100s (left).

The Komatsu PC 3000 (right) is working in the Tormeleo mine.

Loading coal from the stockpile at Tormeleo (left) is the highly manoeuvrable Komatsu WA800 wheel loader.

At Cerredo, high in the mountains in the very south of the Asturias, we concentrated on just one special machine: the Hitachi EX3600 (right).